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Court approves Hazard Mitigation Grant package and MOU with Mauriceville MUD for generator project
Summary
Newton County approved a Hazard Mitigation Grant award package and a memorandum of understanding with Mauriceville Municipal Utility District to provide a backup generator for a well site; county staff said the MUD's board will provide the local match and the county will process the paperwork.
Newton County Commissioners approved a state Hazard Mitigation Grant award package and a related memorandum of understanding with the Mauriceville Municipal Utility District to fund a standby generator at an identified well site.
Court discussion: County staff presented the award package and explained that the MUD has agreed to provide the local match so the project will not require a new county appropriation. Jeremy Walton, assistant general manager of the Mauriceville utility district, told the court the district serves a broad area and described the generator project as intended to benefit the well site near the old Champion site (County Road 3139).
Walton said the immediate beneficiary population near that wellsite is "approximately 500 residents" in Newton County and that the district covers parts of Orange, Newton and Jasper counties. The court voted to authorize signing the state award documents and also approved a memorandum of understanding clarifying the district's commitment to supply the local match and proceed with necessary board approvals.
Why it matters: The grant-funded generator is intended to keep a critical wellsite operational during hazards and outages, supporting drinking-water reliability for nearby residents and providing redundancy for other wellsites the district operates.
Next steps: Staff said the county will execute the subgrant documents after the district's board signs required approvals and that county procurement and accounting will follow the memorandum's terms for administering the award.
